Davey Winder
Wednesday, 06 August 2008 18:49
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
Controversial behavioral advertising targeting outfit Phorm, whose Webwise ad technology monitors user browsing habits to serve appropriate advertising messages, might have dragged the UK Government into a slugfest with the European Union over a possible breach of strict Euro data laws...
Phorm was not the first, nor is it the only, player in the field of
Web-based behavioural advertising technology. But it sure as heck
remains one of the most talked about.
Fuelled
by statements such as the one that appeared in the
New York Times
earlier this year by Phorm Chief Operating Officer Virasb Vahidi "As
you browse, we’re able to categorize all of your Internet actions. We
actually can see the entire Internet" the company seems happy to court
controversy.
In the UK, Phorm has announced deals with three
Internet Service Providers which would give it a reach of around 70
percent of the entire British broadband user market. And that is where
it all started going wrong for Phorm.
It emerged that one of
those ISPs, BT, had been
running secret technology trials to test the
Phorm Webwise system. Unfortunately it failed to inform the customers
whose data was being used, whose habits were being monitored, during
the trial.
What's more, BT actually denied the accusations of
any trial initially and suggested that the redirects some customers had
been experiencing must have been caused by malware installed on their
machines.
It is oh so tempting to say that they were nearly
right, given that Phorm changed its company name from 121Media in July
2007. 121Media were behind PeopleOnPage, an advertising engine wrapper
classified as spyware by leading security
researchers.
Although the UK Information Commissioner has
already ruled that there will be no action taken against BT over the
incident, the reasoning has not calmed the swell of outrage against
both BT and Phorm.
Why didn't the Information Commissioner
take action against BT, and why has the European Union Commissioner got
involved? Story continues on page 2...
CONTINUES
